The Blind And The Broken
by syyg
Summary: Ten year old Aizen Sousuke gets admitted to a... Special hospital, where he meets friends, and an adult who he quickly begins to trust.
1. Meeting

Author's note: this is an AU where Tousen is a psych doctor, and young Aizen suffers from a split personality. The one that is normally out is very sweet and gentle. The other is psychotic, methodical and wants to take over the world.

* * *

When they had first met, Sousuke had been taken there by the two very nice policewomen, who had helped him clean off the very scary blood that the ten year old had found on his clothes and body. His momma and papa were in a safe place, very far away. Or that is what the genius child had been told. He knew that it likely mean that… _He _had hurt them.

Or that his parents didn't want an abnormal child like him anymore.

But Tousen-call-me-Kaname-sensei was very nice. He was gentle and he kept the ghosts from bothering the child, when he was near. Sousuke liked that, because if the ghosts stayed around for too long, _he _would come to command them, and then Sousuke would lose someone else he liked.

He didn't want Kaname-sensei to be the ninth person he lost to _him_.


	2. Past

His parents hadn't quite understood him… and had treated him as more like an object than anything else. It had upset the child… But he tried his best to find friends… Except those his age didn't seem to understand the words he spoke, and found him too weird to even attempt to associate with. The older kids didn't understand him much either.

The child had worked really hard, in order to try and impress his parents, mother was a successful, and high powered, lawyer, and his father, who was one of the most prestigious businessmen in the world… Or at least in Japan, where it supposedly counted the most. But no matter how quickly he went through school… Or the fact that the child was part way through his first doctorate (having finished his undergrad and most of his graduate studies) they never paid any more than the absolute minimum attention required.

Unless there was a fancy party, where he had to dress up nice. The n they spoke in loving, smug tones about their genius child, who had graduated high school at five, and was almost about to complete his first doctorate, in aerospace no less, within the month, and was working on his lingual doctorate (which required several different languages from each continent to be spoken at an adult level in _each_ language. He had all but four of the languages down.

They talked and talked about how wonderful it all was, how their child was going to do so well, and wasn't it wonderful that he had the highest IQ ever recorded? Sousuke, overwhelmed by the amount of attention and chatter, had retreated to a corner.

It was then (he had been seven at the time) when he had met his first ghost. He was an older boy, with long blond hair and a crooked smile. He had said his name was Kisuke, Urahara Kisuke, and that he wanted to have some fun with Sousuke.

He should have known better than to accept his offer… But the little one had been so lonely, so desperate for attention of his peers that he had accepted. Three days later, a body had been found of a prominent politician, and Sousuke was still trying to scrub off the blood he could still see on his hands and clothes.

Others had come, a wild panther-man with wild blue hair, an emotionless ravenette with stunning green eyes… Btu the ghost who visited most often was that Awful, evil Urahara. He had come up with coping mechanisms… But occasionally Urahara would win and… Someone would wind up dead.

It was after the eigth time, did he go to the police… And besides, he had been so terribly lost, and his momma had always said to find good help when he was lost… After a time, where he had been washed, and gotten clean clothes, and asked lots of questioned by serious faced people, after his momma and papa had been found… 'gone to a faraway place' (Sousuke suspected that they meant dead, murdered by the ghosts who took his body by force). The adults had found out about the ghosts, and how he tried to tell them to go away… But the lonely child couldn't… No matter how hard that he tried… Because they could sense that he wanted to be with others, and if the living wouldn't play with them… They had decided to torment the child.

It was then that Sousuke was presented to Kaname-sensei,one of the psychologists than ran a-not asylum for people who were broken in some fashion. But the little one knew that he wasn't broken.

All he needed was for the icky ghosts to go away. "Can you help me get rid of the ghosts?" He asked, an earnestly hopeful expression on his face. Kaname-sensei had gently patted him on the head, telling him that he would do his best to help.


	3. No Eggs! Part 1

Sousuke had been at the asylum for a while. How long he couldn't quite tell. The little one had been assigned his own room, but was brought out by one of the orderlies, or more often, Kaname-sensei to talk to the other souls who had been brought here. The little brunette was very shy, as he never got along well with groups of the living, and generally hid behind the gentle doctor for most of the socialization periods. But he would come out to eat at meals… If the little one was allowed to sit beside the doctor. That had been the first few days, though he had warmed up to the others in his group.

The little one had quickly found out that Kaname-sensei was blind… At least insofar as that he couldn't see colors, and people and walls. But the elder could see into other people's hearts… And into their souls. Perhaps that was why he had chosen this profession.

Sousuke's group were five other children, six if you included the little brunette. Three were boys, two were girls. The boys were Ichigo, a bright orange haired kid who was recovering from the fact that his mother had been murdered in front of him by his abusive father (Ichigo could also see the ghosts too, as could Gin and Kira), Gin – a silver haired boy who had been found on the streets somewhere smiling and wielding a bloody knife, and his faithful friend Kira, who was very timid most of the time, but would occasionally terrorize (to death) someone who had upset Gin. The girls were Soi Fon (who had stalked an older girl, until Yoruichi's parents had found out. The older girl had thought it was cute and funny, and had encouraged Soi's tendencies) who had tried to commit suicide several times, and a girl named Rukia. Sousuke hadn't talked to her much, mostly clicking with Ichigo and Gin. The orange haired boy understood about the ghosts and was patient. Gin was funny and mischievous. But Ichigo, who did know her well, and often spoke for her said that her sister's husband had taken her in and… Something really, really terrible had happened to her there.

What, Sousuke was afraid to ask.

Not one child was a day over twelve in their group, and the group of six seemed to break the hearts of staff and fellow patients alike, though Sousuke was the one to come up with the idea as to why. "They think that we're broken. And they are sad that we're so young, and that we are broken." He pronounced suddenly over breakfast one morning. "Why the adults are all sad that we're here… Sorry… I remembered that Rukia had asked that question a while ago, an' thought of an answer."

Kaname-sensei had gone to get their breakfasts, and could sense that something had happened when he got back with the cart of food. Everything was fine until their protein was revealed.

Sousuke wailed and hid under the table, hissing and pulling the others down with him. "No! Nononono! Not those things! The ghosts _loved _them and they tasted funny and awful and nonononono!" The little one hysterically whimpered, pulling his friends down. They didn't protest as they had heard about the ghosts from both Sousuke and Ichigo, and found them to be really scary.

Kaname-sensei bent down, and asked gently "What has upset you so much, Sousuke-kun?"

"No eggs! They _like_ eggs a lot! An' they smell funny an' the centers taste really awful! No. Eggs! 'Specially not boiled eggs!" the little brunette responded urgently.

Not a single one of them left the table, until Kaname-sensei confirmed that all of the eggs were gone, and that no eggs would be served to any of them again.


	4. No Eggs! Part 2

They had one on one sessions, as well as group sessions, with Kaname-sensei. Occasionally the little ones would get another doctor, but they did not trust any of the other adults… As they gave them strange looks, painful shots, and pills that made them feel really strangely.

But today was one of the days that Sousuke got to talk to Kaname-sensei all by himself. He knew this because yesterday had been Soi Fon, and tomorrow was Ichigo, and he saw one of them for every day until the last day of the week, whereupon they had a big group session where they played outside in the courtyard with none of the other patients allowed in.

Sousuke bowed slightly to Kaname-sensei, and sat down on the big, comfy chair that he had been instructed, as before, to sit on, and talk to the older male about whatever topic Tousen had picked that day. Sousuke suspected that, with the Eggs Incident so recent, they were gonna talk about that. Or at least in part.

"Why do the ghosts like eggs?" Kaname-sensei asked curiously "Have they told you?"

"Kisuke likes them because he knows that I don't. Ulquiorra doesn't care about much of anything and… And Grimmjow likes to throw them really hard at people, or make them step on the squishy eggs and slip all over everywhere…" Sousuke responded, remembering what the ghosts had told him.

"… Why do you not like eggs?" The elder responded, intrigued.

"They smell bad, and the outside is rubbery and the inside feels weirder than the white stuff and tastes a whole lot worse…" The little one responded truthfully.

Kaname-sensei looked like he was about to ask another question, when one of the orderlies, a severe looking man, who loomed over everyone (Yammi as the group had called him. With his stern demeanor and big, booming voice, they felt that darkness fit his name well, as not one of the children knew his name) burst into the room stating, his voice low and urgent "Patient two-thirty-four-c has reacted badly to the new medication. His alternate personality is out in full force and we can't stop him. Since he's one of yours, we thought you might be able to calm him down."

The brilliant child, who had been terribly startled by the intimidating man's sudden presence had dove under the table that had been between himself and Kaname-sensei, snagging a couple of the pillows he had been sleeping on, starting to create a defense of some kind, in case the big, burly man was trying to do something to him.

The children had heard whispers of what 'Yammi' was capable of from the other patients, and from what they could gather his job was to pin down and hurt the patients if they got too unruly. None of them misbehaved much more than an occasional prank, or sneaking off to see one another in their rooms, so they didn't have to be punished by the huge adult.


	5. Tea

How come we always gotta drink chamomile tea, when we wanna drink something hot, Kaname-sensei?" Sousuke asked curiously, tilting his head to one side a little, blinking up at the older male curiously.

"Yeah! Why can't we drink hot chocolate, or even a differen' kinda tea?" Gin agreed, nodding and looking up curiously at the blind psychologist curiously.

"That's not true… When we have a sore throat they give us licorice tea with some honey." Ichigo interjected, shaking his head a little.

"But it tastes awful and burns my throat." Soi Fon countered, pulling a face at the memory of the, to her, vile flavor "Too spicy."

"Well… What would you like to have to drink, instead of chamomile tea?" Kaname-sensei asked companionably. The tea was mild enough for the children to stomach, and didn't interfere with the medication that the little ones were taking, in order to help try and control their various psychoses.

"Hot chocolate with marshmallows!" the six caroled together at the same time, even Rukia.

"I will ask the director. If he says yes, than you will be able to have hot chocolate some of the time. Okay?" The adult responded, an amused expression briefly appearing on his face. Apparently this was an ambush of some kind.

Then he got dog-piled by the children, all of whom were hugging some part of him, faces incandescent with joy. One of the orderlies noticed this and started to approach, worried that something might happen to one of their best doctors… before noticing the gentle way the children were holding him, and the brilliant smiles on all of their faces, including Tousen-sensei's, and stopped moving.


	6. Ouch! Part 1

Sousuke didn't usually sneak out of his room, unless he was really bored, or worried about one of his friends. The former was due to the fact that most of the staff seemed to be unaware as to how smart the child was, and that the little one had managed to complete his lingual doctorate, though a rigorous correspondence course, even though he was 'crazy'.

The little boy knew that he wasn't crazy… The ghosts simply wouldn't leave him alone. It was this reason why the child had escaped from his room. Kisuke had appeared again, smugly informing Sousuke that something bad was going to happen to one of his friends, and that none of the adults would help. It happened to be one of the few days that Kaname-sensei had off… So telling any of the adults was off of his mind completely.

Kaname-sensei was the only adult that all six of the children trusted, and while the head of the hospital, Hirako Shinji was okay… None of them quite trusted his piano teeth smile, or slanted cut of his bangs. No matter how pretty the rest of his long blond hair was that Sousuke longed to run though his fingers. It was pretty and moved like silk…

The little brunette shook himself out of his momentary reverie and managed to get to the closest of his friends' rooms. Ichigo had been having issues with Zangetsu and Juha again. Mostly due to the fact that they didn't like sharing the orangette – with each other or anyone else, and had woken up again.

They would have told Kaname-sensei… But with the doctor gone, there was no one they _could _tell. "Ichigo, are you okay?"

There was a soft snuffle from his orange haired friend, and a pained sort of shifting about. "…'m okay, Sou…"

"Is this the 'I'm really okay' or an 'I just saw my sisters and they don't talk to me like they used to' okay?" The brunette responded shrewdly.

The orangette let out a small sob, and Aizen tricked the door into letting him in, it swinging automatically shut behind him. The younger boy had a bad bruise on the side of his neck, and there was some blood on one side of the walls, and a bit on the floor.

The brunette rushed towards his sitting and heavily breathing friend. "What happened?"

"Z-zangetsu y-yelled at me an' pushed me onto the floor really hard… I think… I think I broke my arm…" Ichigo responded tearfully "It hurts an awful lot…"

"let me see… I can help!" the older child urged.

The berry-named child held out his injured arm for inspection… There was some bruising and the injury looked like it had been bleeding earlier… But their rooms were padded quite heavily… Just how had Zangetsu manage to hurt Ichigo like this? Sousuke spotted one food of the younger boy's bed. It was bloody and the same shape as the bruising pattern on his friend's arm. Sousuek 's dark eye widened and he asked "Did you call for one of the nurses?"

Ichigo shook his head, and clung onto his friend with his good arm. "No… Zangetsu wants to see blood. 'M scared what he'll do if someone else comes in…"

"I'll be right here an' we can get Rukia over here too, if you think that would help. An' we could ask to see Jazz-sensei to get your arm fixed." Sousuke cajoled, still worried for his friend.

Ichigo giggled, and remembered why they had named that particular doctor that. The blond head of the hospital had been dancing to jazz the first time the two of them had been brought to him. They had been play-fighting… But the adults had thought that they had been fighting for real. "that sounds good. I miss Kana-sensei."

"Me too. Let's go to Rukia's room. I know where it is." The older boy responded, holding not his injured friend carefully as the two of them sneaked over to the dark haired girls' room.


	7. Ouch! Part 2

Sousuke and Ichigo managed to get all the way over to Rukia's room without noticing either boy. The black haired girl had been crying, both of them could tell. Her eyes were rimmed with red, and she was snuffling in a way that meant that she was sad, not hurt.

Then both boys remembered at the same time that today was Thursday, which meant that her 'family' had visited. Neither child liked the stern older brother, or the sickly sister who had abandoned their friend here, simply because Rukia was different, like they were. Ichigo, still trying to stay quiet due to his injured and possibly broken arm, nodded at Sousuke, who quickly explained about Zangetsu, Juha and what had happened to their poor friend, as well as who and why they were going to.

She nodded solemnly and the trio raced off towards Hirako-sensei's office, dodging the nurses, orderlies and guards. An alarm had gone off half way through, but not a one of the trio of youngsters paid attention to the claxon. Ichigo was trying not to cry in pain, while Sousuke and Rukia were on the look-out for any and every adult/stranger while also keeping an eye out for Hirako-sense.

The trio slipped into the comfortable looking outer office, and Sousuke walked up to the receptionist, who was twittering away into a phone a millions words a minute, facing away from the door. After several unsuccessful tries of getting her attention, Sousuke opened the door to the head of the mental hospital's office, and led Ichigo and Rukia inside.

Hirako-taichou stared at the three of them, a mildly confused expression on his face, until he spotted the pain on Ichigo's face, and the way he was holding one of his arms. Grey-brown eyes stared into the leader of the little group and Shinji asked, gentle but firm "What happened to Berry-chan's arm, Sou-chan?"

"Zangetsu and Juha were fighting, and Zangetsu hurt Ichigo's arm in the process." Sousuke responded. "Ichigo told me this after I came to go check up on him… _He_ said that one of my friends was going to get hurt an' there was nothing I could do t-to stop it… An-and then I found Ichigo had gotten hurt by Zangetsu…" there were tears in the boy's eyes.

"Ah, I see. And Why is Rukia-chan with you two?" Shinji asked evenly, sending a silent message out to the rest of the staff that the three 'escaping' patients were safe, and passively in his office.

"Because I help keep Zangetsu and Juha away. Not as well as Kaname-sensei, but pretty well." Rukia stated ever-so-softly, violet eyes firmly fixed on her bare feet.

"Ah, I see. And you guys came to me because Kaname-sensei is on a vacation, huh?" The blonde asked, a small smile appearing on his face. At least they trusted more than one adult. Which made things marginally easier. "Why didn't you ask one of the nurses to go check up on your friends, Sou-chan?"

"Because they don't believe me when I tell them that something is wrong… Or they say that _I_ was the cause of it." Sousuke responded truthfully.

"…I could see why you would feel that way, Sou-chan. But next time you get a feeling, or are told by someone who isn't staff that a friend of yours gets hurt, tell one of the nurses to come get me or Kaname-sensei and we'll take care of it, okay? You guys can't go sneaking off, we get worried." Shinji admonished gently.

"…Okay." The little brunette responded, nodding fractionally.

"That goes for the two of you as well. Now Berry-chan, c'mere and I'll check out that arm of yours. I bet it hurts something awful, huh?" the blonde murmured, beckoning the orange haired boy over. Ichigo did as he was told, and Shinji securely wrapped the sprain in a fast-created cast that would immobilize the arm.

Once that was done, the trio of children were gently guided back to their individual rooms. They kicked up a bit of a fuss about being separated, but not all that much.


	8. Singing

Sousuke wasn't sure where he had heard this song before… A movie or a book perhaps? But wherever it had heard it, the dark haired child felt that the song rather fit the situation at hand. He closed his eyes, and quietly began to sing:

_"Are you, are you Coming to the tree Where they strung up a man they say murdered three. Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."_

**He** had killed at least nine people… But the blame had landed squarely on the poor child's shoulders. Sousuke couldn't account for the time that those people had been murdered, other than the fact that he had been asleep at the time… Or that he honestly didn't remember what had happened during those hours.

_"Are you, are you Coming to the tree Where the dead man called out for his love to flee. Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."_

But after his parents had died, the boy had woken up in their bedroom, his parents dead before him, and Sousuke was covered in blood and stabbing wounds… It looked like the same knives that was bloody and clenched in his hands. The dark haired child blinked, and fled, dropping the knives and hiding in the park.

**He **was there, waiting for him with a dark smile and a sing-song voice. Asking what had upset the brunette, and hadn't his parents simply abandoned him, and only took interest in him if it was advantageous to them?

That had been a while ago… Before he had been admitted into the hospital where he had met his friends, and Kaname-sensei.

_"Are you, are you Coming to the tree Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free. Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."_

There was a big, tall tree in the largest open space in the hospital. The space was also open to the sun, and Aizen and his friends had often played at the roots of the tree, or in the low hanging branches (not too high, otherwise they would get stuck, too afraid to move. Or the ghosts would get them). Something had happened at that tree recently.

Sousuke knew this because none of them were allowed to go near the tree anymore, and Kaname-sensei had gathered them up in a small group, and they hadn't been apart from one another since about a week ago.

Strange, disjointed images of places, and screams and… And blood and a heavy sensation as if he had been pulling very heavy objects floated through his mind… Places that matched where the dead bodies had been found, blood that was warm… So warm and pretty… but blood was bad to see spilled…

Aizen shook his head, trying to clear it.

_"Are you, are you Coming to the tree Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me. Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."_

Sousuke was wandering about the insane asylum, his haunting voice, made more horrifying by the childish timber and broken quality of his voice. He had gotten lost and was wandering about, trying to find someone to lead him back to the others.

Instead of finding his friends, he ran into five people. Two were kids, girls who looked like they were about the same age, one blond, the other had black hair. Their eyes matched Ichigo's. As did the blondish woman, who was standing besides a black haired man who also had a beard.

There was a clean shaven man, with shoulder length hair and funny noodle-thingies in his hair. His eyes were grey. All five of them stared down at the boy, horror in their eyes. Why, Sousuke hadn't a clue. They seemed oddly familiar.

Then Kaname-sensei came in, with Rukia and Ichigo in tow. The little brunette scampered over to his friends, smiling happily at all three of them.


End file.
